Live Science media bias and reliability
AllSides and Ad Fontes Media place Live Science in the centre. We have seen it on 22 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is Live Science biased?
AllSides and Ad Fontes Media place Live Science in the centre. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is Live Science left or right?
AllSides and Ad Fontes Media place Live Science in the centre. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Centre.
Is Live Science reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for Live Science are Ad Fontes Media: Very high factuality; Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What Live Science has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with Live Science’s own report linked underneath.
A new dinosaur species, Invictibellatrix amberina, has been identified from a fossil found on the Isle of Wight. The long-clawed predator, which lived 120 million years ago, is the first evidence of megaraptorans in Europe and may have viewed humans as prey.
Live Science reported it asFossil of 'unconquered female warrior' dinosaur with long claws found in UK museum drawer after 100 years (opens Live Science in a new tab)
The World Meteorological Organization predicts the current El Niño event will intensify, reaching its peak in December 2026 and potentially persisting until February 2027. This strengthening is expected to increase global temperatures and raise the risk of droughts and floods worldwide.
Live Science reported it asThe central Pacific Ocean just broke a temperature record. Experts say it might signal a new kind of El Niño. (opens Live Science in a new tab)
Jonathan, a 194-year-old Aldabra giant tortoise, has had his genome sequenced by scientists studying the secrets of his longevity. The research identified genetic changes associated with DNA repair and telomere function, offering potential insights into aging.
Live Science reported it asScientists discover the genetic secrets that may have helped Jonathan the tortoise live to 194 years old (opens Live Science in a new tab)
A giant cloud near Mars' Arsia Mons volcano forms daily through a process called homogeneous nucleation, where water vapor turns directly into ice. This method has never been observed in a planetary atmosphere before, challenging previous assumptions about cloud formation.
Live Science reported it as1,000-mile-long cloud that forms and vanishes on Mars every day obeys 'exotic physics' never seen on Earth (opens Live Science in a new tab)
A planet described as a gas giant has been discovered orbiting a white dwarf star approximately 250 light-years away. This 'second-generation' planet is believed to have formed from material expelled by its dying star, offering new insights into planet formation.
Live Science reported it as'Completely unexpected': Astronomers spy never-before-seen 'phoenix planet' rising from the ashes of a dead star (opens Live Science in a new tab)
Research from Oxford University suggests animals may have evolved up to 200 million years earlier than fossil evidence currently shows. The study re-examined microfossil deposits and used molecular clock analysis to propose an earlier origin for animal life.
Live Science reported it asAnimals may have evolved 200 million years earlier than previously thought, new study suggests (opens Live Science in a new tab)
SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its first orbital test flight on Monday. The mission aims to deploy satellites and test systems critical for future NASA moon missions, with a planned splashdown off the coast of Chile.
Live Science reported it asSpaceX's Starship reaches orbit for the first time, then returns early and blows up in a fiery explosion (opens Live Science in a new tab)
A major study combining bat genomes and fossils suggests the flying mammals first appeared in Europe around 65 million years ago, shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs. The research also indicates that flight and echolocation evolved near the dawn of bat evolution.
Live Science reported it asEarth's first bats didn't come from where we thought, landmark genetic study reveals (opens Live Science in a new tab)
For the first time, astronomers have detected radio signals directly from an exoplanet, Beta Pictoris b, located 63.4 light-years away. The signals, likely from the planet's aurora, suggest a powerful magnetic field, offering new insights into planetary environments beyond our solar system.
Live Science reported it asAstronomers detected radio signals coming from an exoplanet for the first time. Spoiler alert: It's not aliens. (opens Live Science in a new tab)
Astronomers have confirmed Elias 2-24 b as the youngest exoplanet discovered to date, with an age of less than one million years. The Jupiter-sized planet, located 450 light-years away, is still within its natal disk of dust and gas, prompting a re-evaluation of planet-formation models.
Live Science reported it asThis million-year-old 'baby planet' is the youngest world scientists have ever discovered (opens Live Science in a new tab)
Researchers have identified a new wild cat species, Leopardus tilcayo, in Bolivia's Yungas forest. The small feline, measuring about 45-46 cm and weighing 1.4 kg, is the first new wild cat species described in more than 100 years.
Live Science reported it asScientists name a new cat species for the first time in over a century (opens Live Science in a new tab)
The US Space Force has confirmed the deployment of weapons in Earth orbit, marking the first public acknowledgement of such capabilities. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink stated the weapons are intended for defence against hostile actions, though specific details remain undisclosed.
Live Science reported it asAre you worried about the US deploying weapons in space? (opens Live Science in a new tab)
The United States has confirmed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in orbit. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the Space Force placed "space control weapons" to deter adversaries, drawing accusations from China and Russia.
Live Science reported it asAre you worried about the US deploying weapons in space? (opens Live Science in a new tab)
Scientists estimate Mercury's diameter may have shrunk by up to 14 miles (23 kilometers), a figure 30% greater than earlier projections. The planet's hot iron core cooling and contracting is believed to be the cause, tightening its surface.
Live Science reported it asMercury may have shrunk much more than we thought, new study hints (opens Live Science in a new tab)
OpenAI has announced that an internal AI model has produced a solution to the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem, one of mathematics' seven Millennium Prize Problems. The company claims approximately 10,000 AI agents worked on the problem for 88 hours. However, mathematicians have expressed skepticism due to the lack of a publicly disclosed proof.
Live Science reported it as'Why would you ruin your career?': OpenAI claims to have cracked one of math's greatest unsolved problems, but mathematicians allege it played dirty (opens Live Science in a new tab)
Analysis of prehistoric human remains from Indonesia has revealed evidence of habitual drug use dating back approximately 25,000 years. This predates agriculture and suggests humans may have been consuming psychoactive substances much earlier than previously understood.
Live Science reported it asWorld's oldest evidence of habitual drug use traced back 25,000 years to Indonesia (opens Live Science in a new tab)
Flash floods and landslides swept away villages along the Nepal-Tibet border, killing at least 165 people. Experts suggest a glacial collapse, not an earthquake, was the cause, with climate change and the region's topography exacerbating the risks.
Live Science reported it asDevastating Nepal floods were triggered by glacier collapse, experts say — and there's a risk of more landslides to come (opens Live Science in a new tab)
The average global sea surface temperature reached a record 21.1°C on August 22, 2026, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. This surpasses the previous record set in March 2024 and is attributed to global warming and the El Niño phenomenon.
Live Science reported it asOcean 'under unprecedented strain' as El Niño helps supercharge warming to record levels (opens Live Science in a new tab)
Astronomers have identified a star, S301, orbiting the Milky Way’s central black hole at 25,000 kilometres per second, the fastest known in the galaxy. Its tight orbit may enable scientists to measure the black hole’s spin, testing Einstein’s general relativity.
Live Science reported it asAstronomers spot the closest, fastest star ever seen orbiting our galaxy's monster black hole (opens Live Science in a new tab)
The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak between 12 and 13 August 2026, with up to 100 meteors per hour visible. A partial solar eclipse will occur on 12 August, offering a rare dual celestial event. Outlets varied in emphasis on timing, visibility, and the eclipse's coincidence.
Live Science reported it as'They'll surf into the eclipse': Readers share their plans for today’s epic solar eclipse and meteor shower mash-up (opens Live Science in a new tab)
Who says so
2 organisations have published a rating for this outlet, in their own words. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the useful part and it is left standing.
How reliably it reports fact
A rating of the newsroom in general, by others, and a different thing from the Trust score we publish on each story, which judges one piece of reporting.
Very high factuality
Who owns it
- Future plcMedia Conglomeratedirect owner
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- New York, New York, United States
- Official site
- livescience.com
- Seen publishing on
- livescience.com
- Access
- Paywalled
- Wikipedia
- Entry
What we have seen ourselves
Counted across the stories this site has published, which is the only denominator a reader can check: every one of them has a page, and every page lists the reports it was written from.
- Stories
- 22
- Reports listed
- 22
- We could read
- 0
- First seen
- 4 August 2026
22 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 0 we could open, not on everything it published.
A blindspot is measured against one side of the spectrum. Live Science is rated centre, so there is no side for it to be counted against and we publish no figure here.
Across the 22 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, we logged no report earlier than Live Science’s on 1 of them. Overall it filed a median of 28 hours after the earliest report we logged.
Measured 3 November 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 20 October 2026. Ratings pulled 3 November 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as Live Science, also publishing from United States, ordered by how often we have seen them on a story. Sharing a rating is not the same as being alike.
Think this page is wrong?
The leanings above are published by AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check, and we republish them rather than make them. If you think one is misapplied, the strongest place to say so is with the organisation that made it, and every verdict here links to their page.
What we are responsible for is everything else: the ownership chain, where Live Science publishes from, which of our stories we have listed it on, and whether we have the right publisher at all. Tell us what is wrong and an editor reads it.
Report something wrong on this page
Anything we correct is written up in the public corrections log. We do not publish reader votes as a rating, because an unattributed rating is the thing this site exists to argue against.
Every rating on this page is a named third party’s published work, republished with its author and, where one exists, a link to it. Our own coverage record is the section we measure ourselves. Neither is a judgement of any individual report: those are scored story by story, and the reasoning is on our methodology page.